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Video: Hamas official accused of helping Mossad hit squad

>>>a story from overseas tonight. we are learning more this evening about an intricate assassination plot, the stuff of movies, carried out by a mysterious
hit squad
in
dubai
last month. much of it caught on tape. the target was a palestinian leader. question is, who killed him? we get more from our chief foreign correspondent
richard engel
.

>>reporter: the sophisticated assassination culminates here at
dubai
's
luxury hotel
where the 11-member hit team is waiting with disguises. hotel
security cameras
show a bald man check in, but he leaves a bathroom wearing a wig and glasses. the only known female suspect is also seen at the
reception desk
with dark hair, but later she is a blonde. then the target finally checks in. mahmoud el mabhouh. he is followed by two men in shorts carrying tennis rackets. on the second floor, one of the men in shorts follows mabhouh, apparently to check his
room number
, as the other watches for cover. mabhouh would be dead within hours and the hit team out of
dubai
before the body is found. intelligence sources in london say the female member of the assassination team gains access to mabhouh's room by pretending to be a maid. when he opens the door he is shocked with some kind of taser to subdue him and smothered. now there is a fallout. the assassins used six
british passports
. tonight the
british government
is asking
israel
for an explanation. several of the passports used in the plot have the identities of real people living in
israel
, including handyman
john paul
keeli. today his house is shuttered.

>>translator: i'm angry. i can't understand why me.

>>reporter: experts say it is to beat security at
dubai
's airport.

>>you could come along with a false passport. that would be a
red flag
straightaway. what they have done is a classic example of
identity theft
. the only difference between the details in the passport were indeed the photographs of the individuals that went in.

>>reporter:
israel
will not confirm or deny it was behind the assassination.
dubai police
suspect more assassins may have been involved. they are continuing to search for accomplices.
richard engel
, nbc news, london.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Interpol places 11 people suspected in the slaying of a Hamas militant leader in Dubai on its most-wanted list on Thursday.

The international police agency said it has issued red notices, its highest-level alert, to its member countries worldwide for "11 internationally wanted individuals who have been charged by UAE-Dubai authorities with coordinating and committing the murder."

Interpol said it was acting on the request of Dubai authorities and that it believes the suspects used false passports.

Interpol issued the notices — which include photographs — "to limit the ability of accused murderers from traveling freely using the same false passports."

Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's body was found Jan. 20 in his room at a luxury hotel near Dubai's international airport.

Dubai's police chief said on Thursday that Interpol should issue a warrant to arrest the head of Israel's spy agency Mossad if the organization was indeed responsible for the killing.

In comments to be aired later on Dubai TV, police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim called for the police authority to issue "a red notice against the head of Mossad ... as a killer in case Mossad is proved to be behind the crime, which is likely now."

Israel has declined to comment on whether its spy agency was responsible, although security officials have also said they were convinced the Mossad was behind the assassination, and harshly criticized the spy agency for allegedly stealing the identities of its own citizens to carry out the hit.

Increasing mystery
Names released by Dubai matched seven people living in Israel, raising questions about why the agency would endanger its own people by using their passport data as cover for a secret death squad.

At the same time, some Israeli experts said the Dubai evidence pointed to a setup to falsely blame Israel.

"Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in Israel's first official comment on the affair, then added: "I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports."

Some senior Israeli security officials not directly involved in the case were less circumspect, saying they were convinced it was a Mossad operation because of the motive — Israel says al-Mabhouh supplied Gaza's Hamas rulers with their most dangerous weapons — and the use of Israeli citizens' identities.

A significant Mossad bungle?The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a government order not to discuss the case, characterized the operation as a significant Mossad bungle.

If it develops into a full-blown security scandal, that could harm Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically.

Some compared the case to another Mossad embarrassment during Netanyahu's previous term as prime minister, the failed attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in 1997. Two Mossad agents posing as Canadian tourists were captured after injecting Mashaal with poison, and Israel was forced to send an antidote that saved Mashaal's life. Today Mashaal is Hamas' supreme leader.

Still, there was praise for the Dubai operation from some analysts who noted the major difference between it and the Mashaal case is that the latter failed and the former achieved its goal — the assassination of a Hamas commander.

"Al-Mabhouh is dead and all the partners to the operation left Dubai safely," wrote analyst Ronen Bergman of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

Critics slammed the Mossad, not for killing al-Mabhouh on foreign territory but for doing it sloppily and endangering Israeli citizens in the process. A front-page commentary in Israel's Haaretz daily by defense analyst Amir Oren called for the ouster of Mossad director Meir Dagan.

"What is needed now is a swift decision to terminate Dagan's contract and to appoint a new Mossad chief," he wrote. "There's no disease without a cure."

Identities appear to be stolenDubai authorities released names, photos and passport numbers of 11 members of the alleged hit squad this week, saying all 11 carried European passports. But most of the identities appeared to have been stolen, and at least seven matched up with real people in Israel who claim they are victims of identity theft.

Among them is Melvyn Adam Mildiner, a dual Israeli-British citizen who said one of the numbers matched his own UK passport. He told The Associated Press he had never been to Dubai.

Others expressed shock that their names were used. Paul John Keeley, a 43-year-old father of three, told Haaretz he was worried "that someone will try to harm us." Stephen Hodes told Israel Radio: "I'm simply afraid. These are powerful forces."

The revelations by Dubai, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, raised many questions: Could someone be trying to make it look like the Mossad carried out the hit? Might Israel have wanted to leave behind a fingerprint to enhance the Mossad's mystique? Did Israel underestimate Dubai's policing abilities? Why would Israel risk exposing 11 agents by allowing them to be filmed by Dubai surveillance cameras, even if they were disguised?

Answers were not forthcoming, yet if Israeli involvement is confirmed, the al-Mabhouh killing is likely to be remembered as one of the more stunning hits in the Mossad's history of undercover operations.

The affair could have unwanted diplomatic repercussions for Israel. Britain's Foreign Office summoned Israeli Ambassador Ron Prossor for talks about the case Thursday.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised an inquiry, saying: "The British passport is an important document that has got to be held with care."